Ludwigia leptocarpa

(Nutt.) H. Hara

Anglestem primrose willow

Onagraceae Edible: Spice 2,985 iNaturalist observations

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Description

A herb that keeps growing from year to year. The leaves are long and narrow. The flowers are in the axils of the leaves.

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Edible Uses

Used as a spice.

Medicinal Uses

An infusion of the plant (part not specified) is part of a mixture to treat rheumatism. A leaf infusion has laxative, vermifugal and anti-dysenteric properties.

Distribution

It is a tropical plant. It grows in wet grass savannah. In Argentina it grows below 500 m above sea level.

Where It Grows

Africa, Angola, Argentina, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, CAR, Chad, Colombia, Congo DR, Congo R, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Africa, El Salvador, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North America, Panama, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, West Africa, West Indies, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Cultivation

The plant can become a troublesome weed in irrigated rice fields. It has an invasive habit as a colonizer of dried-up stream beds and similar damp locations.

Other Uses

A black dye is obtained from the leaves. It is used to blacken mats, baskets and bags made of palm leaves. The plant has an invasive habit as a colonizer of dried-up stream beds and similar damp locations. It has been found useful in erosion control.